Author: The Bot Framework Team

Create a QnA Knowledge Base using new BotBuilder Tools

This year at Build 2018, we announced the general availability of QnAMaker as well as the new Bot Builder tools preview. One exciting new tool called LUDown allows you to easily create natural language components locally for both LUIS and QnAMaker. In this article, we’ll be providing an overview of how to use LUDown to create a QnA Maker knowledge base (KB), and….

Improving accuracy in LUIS with patterns

Since LUIS became generally available last year several new features have been added to make it easier to create and train robust natural language models for your applications. If you’ve used LUIS in the past, hopefully you’re pretty familiar with intents and entities, and how to train your model to use them by using utterances. In this post, we’ll go over….

Beginning tomorrow, from May 15th to May 30th 2018 (03/15/2018 – 05/30/2018), Azure Web Apps will be rolling out stricter protocol enforcement world-wide. This will impact clients that are using TLS 1.0 without an SNI header. The only resolution is to upgrade the clients to use TLS 1.2 (preferable), TLS 1.1, or TLS 1.0 with an SNI header. Overview Azure Web….

Build a Microsoft Bot Framework bot with the Bot Builder SDK v4

The Microsoft Bot Framework provides just what you need to build and connect intelligent bots that interact naturally wherever your users are talking, from text/SMS to Skype, Slack, Office 365 mail and other popular services. The new version 4 SDK provides a new, rich, multi-language SDK for building bots using C#, JavaScript, Python, or Java. Bot Builder v4 helps you with….

Conversational AI is the next user interface (UI) wave in computing. We’ve evolved from a world of having to learn and adapt to computers to one where they’re learning how to understand and interact with us. Natural interactions with computers start with language, speech, and semantic understanding, and continues through supporting rich multi model interactions. Today at the Build conference, we are announcing major updates related to our Conversational AI tools including updates….

Announcing General Availability of QnAMaker

QnAMaker is announcing general availability at //build/ 2018. QnAMaker is a Microsoft Cognitive Service that makes it easy to power a question-answer application or chatbot from semi-structured content like FAQs and product manuals. QnAMaker GA stack was built with scalability and data privacy in mind while keeping it still easy-to-use. In this post, we will break down the major differences….

General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

Overview In May 2018, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), is due to take effect. The GDPR imposes new rules on companies, government agencies, non-profits, and other organizations that offer goods and services to people in the European Union (EU), or that collect and analyze data tied to EU residents. If you are unsure how GDPR affects you or your organization, refer….

Building bots with Redux

Overview A key part of what makes the Azure Bot Service so great is it’s flexibility, which we’ve been emphasizing from the very beginning. When we’ve talked about flexibility in the past, we’ve typically referred to the Azure Bot Service’s ability to seamlessly connect your bots to multiple channels at once, and the option to easily add cognitive services such….

Reminder: The Bot Framework State service has been retired – what you need to know

The Microsoft Bot Framework State service is now retired as of March 30, 2018. Previously, bots built on the Azure Bot Service or the Bot Builder SDK had a default connection to this service hosted by Microsoft to store bot state data. Now that the service has been retired, your bots will need to be updated to use their own….

Fix for SNAT Exhaustion – Node.js Bots

This fix is to address time outs with Direct Line causing a 500:Connect ETIMEDOUT error under high loads – Use the AgentKeepAlive NPM module to ensure re-use of the SSL connections Tune the MaxSockets parameter of the AgentKeepAlive instance to be at least 160 to match the number of SNAT port. const Agent = require(‘agentkeepalive’); const keepaliveAgent = new Agent({….